president obama is about to end his family vacation in hawaii and will arrive in washington early tomorrow to deal with the tax increases and spending cuts that are due to take effect next week. no official fiscal cliff negotiations between republicans and democrats have been scheduled. not a great deal of progress. >>> with the government right on the edge now of that fiscal cliff, taxpayers are facing a lot of uncertainty as we head into the new year and for many of us the usual year-end financial strategies simply may not apply this year. 7 on your side's michael finney sorts out some of the confusion. >> reporter: when it comes to year end finances the old rules may not add up this year. >> it is difficult to do any type of tax planning and advising because nobody really knows exactly what is going to happen. >> much of the uncertainty centers around whether the united states is about to fall off that a fiscal cliff. if that happens, that would mean the end of the temporary payroll tax cuts. even if that doesn't happen, most believe taxes will go up next year. >> one of the things that